Quote:
The Masseria crime family and the Morello/Terranova one were one and the same.


The reason I am not sure about that is because the Morello and Terranovas were an actual familial clan. Joe the Boss, so far as we know, was an outsider. Not blood related. Yet they kicked up to him. That makes me think he had people with him who helped him dominate the Morellos and Terranovas. I doubt Joe the Boss was Corleonesi from Corleone, which the Morellos and Terranovas probably were.

What I mean is that there was probably a merger at some point with the corporations being acquired being the Morello and Terranova groups.

The use of the terms gang mob and family are also murky. Maranzano was said to be the one to institute the use or return to usage of the term family to describe a mafia. Before him, supposedly everyone was in a gang or a mob. That's why I use terms like Masseria Gang or Masseria Mob. That would also make the ancient Chicago outfit called the Capone Gang, or Capone Mob. I think I've heard the former somewhere (Capone Gang), not the latter.


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